Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned Israeli youths Monday against the “illusion” that one powerful blow could solve the Middle East conflict or eradicate terrorism.
Addressing high school students in Ramat Gan, Rabin said, “We have never had a war which ended all wars, and we can never have such a war. There can be no single war or operational battle which can eradicate terrorism.”
He added, “I know it’s nice to think so, to create expectations. But that’s not the truth. There has been no one war to end all wars.”
Rabin may have been referring indirectly to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was supposed to clear Palestinian terrorists out of that country and establish peace with the Beirut government. Neither objective was achieved.
The defense minister referred to the fatal stabbing of an Israeli, Shlomo Takal, in the central square of Gaza on Sunday as a serious example of terrorism in the administered territories, carried out for nationalistic or religious reasons. He said, however, that despite the difficulties of combatting terrorism, some 80 percent of all serious terrorist attacks have resulted in the arrest and punishment of the assailants.
Rabin said that at least two Arab countries — Syria and Iraq — are capable of waging chemical warfare. He said there was a third country, as well, which he declined to name.
But every Arab country and Arab ruler should know that the use of chemical weapons against Israel would bring devastating retaliation, Rabin said.
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